Ban on high-capacity gun clips in L.A. advances

A Los Angeles City Council committee Friday recommended a proposal to ban ownership of gun magazine clips that take more than 10 bullets.

Members of the City Council's Public Safety Committee said they hope to encourage other cities to take similar actions. The ordinance would make it a misdemeanor to possess the magazine clips. It allows exemptions for law enforcement officers and entertainment industry uses.

"I would like to add that after a date certain, say a year from now that once the city makes a clear statement about the danger of these, they would be subject to misdemeanor penalties," Krekorian said.

Councilman Joe Buscaino, a former police officer, said he had personal experience about the lethal impact of the magazine clips.

"It's time to say enough is enough," Buscaino said. "I was witness to the killing of a 14-year-old, who didn't have a chance because he was shot so many times. I had to follow him to the hospital, realizing he had been in my wife's sixth-grade class."

The state has already acted to ban the sale and importation of the magazines to California.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has said the city can take the action by declaring the large capacity magazines a public nuisance.